


The Sense of Smell Holds your Strongest Memories

by A_Fandom_Related_Name



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, Linked Universe, LinkedUniverse, Nightmares, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 02:16:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18356552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Fandom_Related_Name/pseuds/A_Fandom_Related_Name
Summary: The sense of smell has strong ties to one's memories.





	The Sense of Smell Holds your Strongest Memories

_He looked towards the castle and immediately he knew something was wrong. He could see guardian beams going off but all in the wrong directions. They were hitting the buildings and even from across the field he could hear the screams. They were awful and he could tell that behind him the princess he was guarding was crying. He wanted to cry. Instead he turned around and started leading the way towards Kakariko. This isn't how it was supposed to happen. Nothing was going right. His last hope was just keep the princess safe so they could regroup and rethink. At the very least the Sheikah would be able to keep her safe while he went to fight the calamity because she wasn't ready._

_She didn't protest as he lead her the wrong way apparently so stunned by the destruction before her she couldn't even process what was happening. It did eventually catch up with her and she collapsed in the woods on the way but his brain was so far ahead in their journey he barely noticed at first. She was collapsed there, despairing over the loss of her people, her friends, her family and he deep down he wanted to do that too but he couldn't they had to get somewhere else now. As they ran they came across the remains of one of the villages that just hours ago had a prosperous community. The guardians had seemingly left already after not finding their intended targets but not before killing every person within. He turned away from it and held his hand out for the princess to give him the Sheikah slate._

_"I need it" He forced the words from his throat. The smoke around them making his disused voice nearly impossible to hear but she by some chance heard it and slung the Sheikah slate off her belt and put it into his waiting hand._

_He used the scope he'd seen her use before to look at the distant Sahasra slope, the fastest route into Kakariko from here and saw the guardians crawling around it, as if searching for the entrance they also seek. He could see a house on fire and almost threw the Sheikah slate when he saw a guardian beam rip through a person. This is why he was looking and not the princess he reminded himself. He gave the slate back to her and pulled her along the outskirts of the village listening diligently for the mechanical sounds of guardians or the grunts of the monsters that seemed to be appearing out of thin air now that their master has been released. He was so focused on that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going._

_His foot hit something and he glanced down at a second to see what it was and saw a charred piece of something. He looked again to figure out what it was and wished he hadn't when he realized it was a leg. The leg or a person. The leg of a person who had been alive maybe just minutes before. That's when the smell hit him. The smell of burning flesh and fire. The sounds in the world so loud he could easily believe this was the end of it. The end of the entire world. The ground slick with rain water and rivers of blood that were flowing from the very land itself. He covered the princess's eyes with one hand and used the other to guide her around the carnage but now that his eyes had been opened to it he could see it everywhere. The bodies everyone. Men, woman, children, no one was spared the fate here at the epicenter. He wished he could protect his charge from the smell as well. The smell that was everywhere. The smell that guided him to go. Go. Go._

_His eyes caught the open frozen eyes of a young child and he felt himself falter for a second in his task. He almost threw up but kept his hand firmly in front of the princess's eyes. She could hear the screams and smell the smell but he would save her from seeing this. Save her from the years she would be haunted by the site of her people dead before her. His ears distantly picked up the sound of a guardian laser and-_

   His body jolted him awake and he took a couple of deep breaths. He had learned a while ago that if he simply relaxed and allowed the memories to slip away instead of trying to chase them it worked out better. If he tried to chase them it would only frustrate him and maybe even give him a headache but if he simply let go he'd be none the wiser they had ever happened. He started counting and taking in his senses. He was sitting upright against something which was strange, he usually took the time to roll out a mat if he wanted to sleep and he was still half asleep so he couldn't remember why he hadn't. He could feel the wind on his face and a warmth that indicated a fire nearby. He felt a tingling in his brain as if a memory was attempting to come back but it disappeared as quick as it came.

   He took a deep breath and his lungs froze in his chest. There was the smell of fire, of wood but there was also an underlying smell of burnt. Something alive that was now burned, charred, dead. Something that had once been a being of the land. Something he had tried to protect the princess from but had to stare at with his own eyes to do so. He pushed himself up so fast his vision was swimming but something inside him had activated, some deep instinct that had ascended beyond a memory to be a part of him forever. He took one look at the fire and turned a one-eighty and ran straight into the woods behind him. He heard yelling behind him but he didn't look back, he knew if he looked back he'd see something awful.

   His legs were pounding the ground and the only comforting sound to him in that moment was the jangle of his gear on his back. He ran from whatever he had needed to until he had no idea where he had come from. He could still smell that smell in his nose. It clung there and he knew he would never be able to get it out now. Nothing could cleanse him of what he'd witnessed. It was forever with him in life, death, and amnesia. He was running as fast as he could. He ran so fast his thoughts couldn't catch up with his body. He ran so fast he didn't notice what was in front of him until he was tripping and falling all the way down to the ground that had been beneath his feet moments prior.

 **Don't look**. Was his body's only insight so he listened and pushed himself up to standing and took a stock of his surroundings. He had spent a long time with nothing but his instincts to guide him and he wasn't about to stop now. He could hear something rustling in the leaves nearby and he could see it now if he looked in that direction. Long metal legs of death slowly pushing the trees away to get to the hero they were sent to kill. The bright pink emanating from the thick hull. The bright blinking light of that horrible eye. The whirring he had been searching for finally catching up to him.

   He was running before he could even look back to find out. He could feel his legs starting to give out from his constant run so he scanned his surroundings before seeing a tall tree nearby. It would both get him out of sight and give him the drop on the guardian when it came looking for him. He used his arms and legs to propel up the tree in seconds and as soon as he was sitting at the top he realized his legs were dead. A dead run from sleep probably wasn't a good idea. He took a deep breath to try and calm his panting and this time he didn't smell the ash and death on the air so he gulped it down like he wasn't going to have it ever again. He kept trying to get in the clean air faster and faster until his vision seemed to start going in and out of focus. He needed the smoke gone before he choked on it he needed more air without it. He needed. He needed to keep the princess safe on not break down. He needed to get to Kakariko. He needed- He felt hands on his shoulders.

   "Hey, hey calm down and breath" There was a steady voice. A steady voice that was Twilight. A Steady voice that was Twilight that brought him back to when and where he really was. It was as if his voice was the last part of the puzzle his brain needed to realize where he was. He wasn't in whatever past his body was in. He was here with the others and he was safe.

   At once his body calmed and he reached out for the person in front of him. He wrapped twilight in a rib breaking hug and breathed. He could still smell that fire and burning on the other but it didn't panic him anymore. Whatever memory had been there had dispersed and now all he was left with was a vague impression of it. He felt the tenseness leave the body in front of him along with a deep sigh that from his position so close he could hear all the way from his chest to the air. To the clean air. To the air that didn't hold screams or ash. That didn't hold heat and promises of death.

   "C'mon the others are probably worried, not only did you fall asleep before making dinner but when we finally attempted to make it you woke up and bolted" Twilight paused. "Plus it's late so there's the danger of monsters" Twilight was pulling away but he wasn't ready. He wasn't ready to let go yet.

   The older just sighed and pulled away before climbing down the tree. He had no choice but to follow him even as his legs screamed at him as he climbed down. As soon as he was on the ground he felt the urge to latch onto his mentor once again but resisted so he could look him in the eyes. He watched as he searched his eyes for something.

   "You ok now? Do you" Twilight breathed. "Do you remember what it was about?"

   He looked down at the ground for a second. Did he remember? He remembered something. His ears ringing with screams, the ground slick with something sinister on it, hot smoke and ash on his skin, and worst of all the smell.

   "No" He mustered as much conviction as he could. Twilight was searching his eyes again and he seemed satisfied with what he found and turned to walk back towards wherever their camp presumably was.

   When he got back he forced himself calm when the camp still smelled with that strange familiarity because it also smelled like other things. Like nine heros who don't bathe enough. Like a forest from a time he doesn't know. Like metal they used to protect themselves with. He was glad they had gotten rid of whatever they had tried to make because he wasn't sure if he could have handled seeing whatever they had ruined. He cooked dinner as if nothing had happened and if anyone noticed he made them a meal without meat that night no one mentioned it. If he offered to take first watch as repayment for disturbing the peace earlier no one said a word. If he set his bed roll the furthest from the fire well they simply moved them all farther away to be closer in case he needed them.

   In the end when he settled down later that night after his shift with a hand curled into the fur next to him he could only remember one thing of his earlier dream and subsequent flight from the camp. The smell of fire and burning flesh. Somewhere in his mind he knew that these were his memories of the Calamity. He knew that someday he might get real context of what these meant. But for now he would only have the smell. Oh how much a simple smell could mean.

**Author's Note:**

> I know it's not the most creative thing out there but I got it stuck in my head and wanted to write it. Nothing like a generic fic to get into the swing of writing again. I mean everyone has those moments where they smell something and are transported to their childhood. Smell does have a deep connection to memories so it would make sense that they could cause a bit of a mess for an amnesiac with horrible trauma.
> 
> Also if there are any mistakes please tell me. I don't have anybody who can read it over for me and I gladly welcome anyone who is willing to point out the mistakes.
> 
> Fun Facts:  
> This was called "Big Wild Oof" in my documents.  
> I wrote this and edited it in one sitting which was a terrible idea.  
> I feel bad for writing it because there's already so much Wild angst so I apologize.


End file.
